How is Customer Service Different in an Online Business?

In online business one of the primary challenges of is finding, attracting and converting ideal, interested leads into engaged, paying clients.

All along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to serve, surprise, and delight your audience with customer service. There are definite advantages and also there are unique challenges that can put an unprepared business at a disadvantage. 

Issue #1 – Face to Face Communication is Rare

Especially when it comes to complaining, most people are content to blast out their frustration safely behind their computer. And while it may encourage more honest feedback, it’s also very hard to read body language, determine their real concerns and communicate your own sincerity.

There is no font for sarcasm or sincerity, so we have to do much more work to convey and distinguish between the two.

Solutions: In lieu of being face to face try for the phone, Skype video or even a one way video. I also recommend always reading your messages aloud to assess how they might be interpreted.

Issue #2 – Responding Takes More Time (sometimes)

In person you have an incentive to answer the question which your customer has brought quickly so they can continue shopping and pay immediately. Most online businesses don’t yet have the need for 24/7 support and even the ones that do don’t often have the highest level decision makers on hand to help discern and answer questions.

So at times the response can take a bit longer which leaves the customer or client in need and risks that they’ve lost interest by the time you respond. Especially in the world of social media that expects instantaneous responses it can seem like you’re constantly behind and out of touch with clients. But this delay factor can also be an asset.

Advantage #1 – Responding Takes More Time

I know, it’s a contradiction but here’s the real advantage to taking more than 5 seconds to make a snap judgement: you get better judgements. While we don’t recommend letting the client feel like they’ve been left waiting and “we’ll get around to you later” it’s critical to ensure that your answer is in line with company policies and responses are well informed.

Even if you have proper tracking in place (see advantage 2 below), you have to refer to it in order to get the benefits! That can take a little bit of time and can help prevent team members from responding in anger.

Advantage #2 – It’s Easier to Track Actions

Out in the real world if you complain at a store the employee probably couldn’t guess how often you visit, what items you like to buy, how frequently you’ve complained or even how much you’ve spent in the last six months.

But all of this information is readily available to an online business properly tracking metrics. With a few clicks you can find out how many products or services a customer has purchased, their payment history and even their email and phone history to discern a legitimate complaint from a great customer and a chronic whiner who manipulates for free services.

Customer service for online businesses is tricky and there’s a lot to consider but one thing is clear: it’s not going away anytime soon. We love shopping, communicating, meeting and complaining online and the business that doesn’t have a solid plan in place may find themselves losing the message and clients.